Two significant judicial pronouncements delivered this week have reaffirmed an important principle often forgotten in our social landscape: women’s rights are neither a favour granted by society nor a concession dependent on male approval. They are rights guaranteed by religion, protected by the constitution and enforceable under the law. Yet the persistence of gender-based violence, honour crimes and the continued denial of women’s legal entitlements is an obvious tell that a troubling gap remains between rights recognised on paper and rights enjoyed in practice. In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has unequivocally reaffirmed the legal and religious basis of khula, describing it as a lawful mechanism through which a woman may leave a marriage she no longer wishes to continue. The court has rightly observed that marriage rests upon mutual willingness and that the law cannot compel a woman to remain in a union that has become intolerable. Particularly noteworthy is the court’s rejection of attempts to weaponise the legal system against women who exercise this right. By declaring the husband’s proceedings frivolous, vexatious and abusive, the court has sent a strong message that legal harassment cannot be used as a tool of punishment against women seeking lawful redress.
Equally important is the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling on women’s inheritance rights. The court has said – rightly so – that a woman’s share in inheritance is neither a modern legal innovation nor an act of social generosity. It is a divinely ordained right recognised by the Holy Quran and guaranteed by the constitution. The judgment’s emphasis on heightened judicial scrutiny is particularly welcome. For decades, countless women have been deprived of their inheritance through coercion, manipulation, fraudulent transfers and family pressure. In many cases, women are persuaded to surrender property rights in the name of family harmony or social expectations. Taken together, these rulings represent another encouraging step in a broader pattern of judicial recognition of women’s rights. As noted in these pages previously, recent decisions relating to child custody, financial rights and marriage contracts have similarly sought to strengthen women’s legal standing. That said, judicial pronouncements alone cannot transform social realities. The concerns recently raised by the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights should prompt concern at the governmental level. The committee has pointed out the persistently low conviction rates in gender-based violence cases. Meanwhile, ‘honour killings’ remain a grim reality despite repeated legal reforms.
Pakistan’s challenge has never been the complete absence of legal protections for women. More often, it has been the failure to enforce those protections consistently and effectively. Unless women can access justice without intimidation, claim inheritance without coercion and leave abusive marriages without harassment, we will always be back at square one. The latest court rulings deserve to be welcomed but they should also serve as a reminder that the true measure of progress lies not in judgments alone, but in whether those judgments translate into meaningful change in the lives of ordinary women.
